Something More Than Sorrow
by Sally6
Summary: Insomnia drives Snape out roaming the corridors again. Fluffy standalone. DMSS.


Disclaimer: I own nothing etc.  
  
Something more than Sorrow  
  
Insomnia was something, which from the age of about fifteen onwards, he had been consistently unable to avoid. The only times when he actually managed to lie down and get some was when he became so exhausted that it was a physical impossibility for him to stay awake. Therefore, most nights, a large, bat-like figure could be seen silently storming the corridors.  
  
Potions used to help him; he took them despite their highly addictive tendencies. However, three years of constant drugging had rendered him practically immune to their effects. Withdrawal symptoms were not a thing to be lightly combined with a lack of sleep but he really didn't care about the state of his health any more. If someone had said to him 'chop of both your legs and you'll be cured' then he'd be damned if he wasn't reaching for the nearest hacksaw.  
  
Hands were a different matter. Lose them and he'd lose everything. The ability to brew, the ability to write, the ability to touch, to feel...he never thought when he took his nightly strolls. There was little point in dwelling, turning matters over in his mind. Besides, he had absolutely no appetite for introspection.  
  
The heels of his boots sounded silent in the deserted hallways. His feet led the way, by now he knew the labyrinth of corridors well enough that it didn't matter which way he turned. Next left, the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. He scowled and decided not to think about it.  
  
His eyes prickled with a hunger for sleep. It was no use, every ounce of his body yearned for respite, but he could not. He was fated to be eternally restless, forever taking the next turning in the dark. Was he searching for something? He hoped not.  
  
A sound like a sharp intake of breath brought him to a standstill. He paused in silence, not even his own breathing making a sound. His face formed the customary expression for when hormonal brats interrupted his prowling. It sounded again, this time a little wetter and he immediately located the source to his right and inside a disused classroom. He sighed slightly, feeling somewhat disappointed although he didn't know why. Someone was clearly crying and he supposed that he had to go in and see to it, much as he was loathe to, because contrary to popular belief he wasn't completely heartless.  
  
He had never been one for tears. As a child he had often wondered why his mother was 'leaking' and over the years had come to recognise this reaction as one which he was completely unable to control. He always tried to step back the second any pupil appeared to be about to let loose. It scared him, this release of emotion. Somehow it was foreign and repulsive to him at the same time as being envied. He didn't try to analyse his emotions, his were so blackened by now that it was hard to distinguish between them. Entering the room he tried to keep his shock from showing on his face when he realised who the crumpled weeping heap in the corner was.  
  
A tousled white-blonde head was bent down to meet pulled-up knees; the position was familiar to him but he tried not to dwell on the incidents of the past. There was something in the boys eye's when he looked up at him that suggested that what he was feeling ran deeper than the usual teenage melancholy, it was something purer and altogether much more powerful. More destructive. Snape didn't know what to do to ease the pain, so he did the obvious and crouched down to ask him what was wrong.  
  
"It's nothing, nothing you can help me with." Draco turned away, silently willing his professor to leave him alone. The closeness was killing him; he could feel the heat of the other body in the chill room, the familiar scent of crushed herbs and expensive cologne underneath musty robes.  
  
"Tell me." He made his voice soft and smooth, hoping to entice the boy to answer. He had never seen Draco unruffled before and it unsettled him to see him so taken over with emotion. When he received no answer he sat down, letting one hand rest lightly on the other's arm. The contact made the boy shiver and Snape supposed that he was cold. In a moment of sudden recklessness Draco moved into the feeling and let Snape wrap a warm arm around his shoulders.  
  
The two sat for a moment in silence. The rest of the school silently still around them, only the distant sound of wind rushing against the windows could be heard echoing through the entrance hall.  
  
Draco began to relax and take in the sensation of the man around him. He was leaning heavily onto a solid, lean chest that he could feel a steady heartbeat through which reverberated down his spine to his pelvis. His arm was surprisingly tender and yet held him in a tight grip as if expecting him to fall at any moment. The cloth of his shirt was warm and comforting flannel. Draco felt his lids grow heavy.  
  
In a few hours he woke and found himself fully seated in the other man's lap and being rocked slightly as he breathed steadily in and out. Snape had been relieved to feel the boy drift into sleep and hoped that it would help to clear his troubled mind. He was fond of Draco, the boy was bright and passionate and pure and he only hoped that he could prevent him from falling into the darkness that haunted his life like a filthy shadow. Snape tried not to think about the child's bleak future. Draco stirred.  
  
Looking down his gaze was met by clear grey eyes. He smiled sheepishly and Snape reached down to brush a few stray hairs out of the boy's face. Draco followed the touch like an animal starved of physical contact, and smiled. Severus frowned slightly to himself as if in thought before deciding not to think about the consequences and cupping Draco's chin lightly with his long fingers.  
  
The first kiss was light and tender. The merest brushing of one pair of lips over another, but that was all that it took. As he drew away, he felt the boy's hands entwine with his hair and pull him gently downwards.  
  
When he returned to his chambers a while later and lay down to await the break of dawn, he felt his eyes grow heavy and a sense of falling overtook him. To his complete amazement Snape found that he was asleep, and Albus Dumbledore let him take the first lie-in of his career.  
  
*The End*  
  
A/N: I'm sorry that that was a bit cliché and mushy, but hey! We all need some of that sometimes right? Please review, and thanks for reading. 


End file.
